Elongated hollow stuffing tubes are an integral part of all modern sausage encasing machines. They serve as the conduit upon which a hollow elongated casing material is mounted and through which meat emulsion is pumped for delivery into the casing.
These stuffing tubes are conventionally mounted on a solid elongated cylindrical stuffing tube end. The rearward end of the tube is slidably inserted over a protruding cylindrical portion of the stuffing tube end. The two components are then rigidly secured together by a stuffing tube pin that extends completely through the two components and is welded into position. This pin permanently secures the stuffing tube to the stuffing tube end.
The principal shortcoming of the foregoing structure is that if the stuffing tube is bent or otherwise damaged, not only must the stuffing tube be discarded, but the machined stuffing tube end to which it is rigidly attached must also be thrown away.
Another shortcoming of the foregoing structure is that cleaning of the stuffing tube is made more difficult by reason of its rigid attachment to the stuffing tube end.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a mounting assembly for stuffing tubes on sausage encasing machines wherein the stuffing tube is detachably secured to the stuffing tube end or barrel.
A further object of this invention is to provide a mounting assembly for stuffing tubes on sausage encasing machines wherein the stuffing tube can be easily detached from the stuffing tube end or barrel to facilitate cleaning.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.